Switzerland’s upcoming referendum about the online gambling industry will be presented by Dr. Simon Planzer at Prague Gaming Summit 2018. The second edition of Prague Gaming Summit will include a wide range topics and compliance updates from various countries in the region and the organizers are adding a new topic in the panel discussion for the event which will take place on the 29th of March at Andel’s by Vienna House Prague.

Besides the compliance updates and opportunities of the Czech, Polish, Slovak, Slovenian and Austriand markets, the event will also feature a presentation of the highly awaited referendum in Switzerland.
On September 29, 2017 the Swiss Parliament passed a revised gambling law entitled the Money Gaming Act. The Act unites Switzerland’s existing acts on casino games and betting/lotteries into a single Act.

The new Act equally lifted the current online gambling ban, however only operators of licensed casinos (type A and B) may qualify to apply for an additional online casino license. The new Money Gaming Act therefore provides the possibility to block access to foreign online gambling websites to Swiss citizens.

Despite not being strictly prohibited, online gambling was technically illegal under current legislation but international operators were able to target local players. However, the new law ends that and formally legalises online gambling, but bars international companies from operating within the country.

Therefore, internet service providers will be obliged to block access to international gambling operators’ websites and the Swiss government will provide compensation for any expense it may provoke.

In spite of clearly passing the parliament, the new legislation was challenged by the youth organisations of the Swiss People’s Party, the Free Democratic Party and the Green Liberal Party. They wanted to organize a referendum against blocking international operators which needed to gather 50k signatures in 100 days in order to even take place.

On January 18, 2018 the required number of signatures were finally submitted. Therefore, a public referendum concerning the Money Gaming Act will take place on June 10, 2018.
If the Swiss electorate accepts the act by referendum, the new Gaming Act will remain unchanged and come into force during 2019. In the other hand, the parliament will have to pass a revised new Gaming Act, delaying the process of implementation

The latest topic announcement comes along with the announcement of a new speaker who will join the “Focus on Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland and Austria” panel discussion and will give the inside information about the Swiss market and the upcoming referendum.

Dr. Simon Planzer, Partner at PLANZER LAW

The Zurich-based gaming law boutique PLANZER LAW provides strategic, regulatory and legal advice to stakeholders across all areas of the gaming industry. The firm’s primary focus is on EU/EEA gaming law, compliance issues such as AML as well as Swiss gaming law and related commercial, corporate and financial matters.

Simon is General Member of the International Masters of Gaming Law. An alumnus of the College of Europe, he specialised early on in EU affairs and gaming law, working at the EFTA Court, the legal service of the EFTA Secretariat and as research fellow in European business law.
Simon is the author of the monograph (PhD) ‘Empirical Views on European Gambling Law and Addiction’(2014) and the book chapter ‘Gambling Law’ in The Handbook of EEA Law (2016), both published by Springer International Publishing. Simon also works as a Lecturer in Law at the University of St.Gallen where he teaches European Economic Law. He studied and did research i.a. at Harvard University, the College of Europe and the European University Institute.

More speaker profiles will be releases soon, but you may want to check the already confirmed line-up of speakers and register in time. The event is limited to 125 seats.
Make sure you register in order to get a chance to networking with the representatives of Fortuna Group Entertainment, Sazka, Superbet, NetEnt, Cubits, Payout s.r.o., Nmi Gaming, Data Bet, Pangea Localization Services, PMU, BMM Testlabs, ROMBET, All-In Translations, Trustly, Betgenius, Endorphina and much more.

About the organizer, European Gaming Media and Events (formerly EEGMedia/EEGEvents)
European Gaming Media and Events is a leading media and event organizer company in the European Union.

The live events/conference division is in charge of organizing boutique style executive gaming events that focus on bringing inside information from the top gaming experts in the European Union and beyond. Their first event was held in Budapest on the 19th of September 2016. Since then the team have implemented more destinations into their event portfolio.

In short, they cover most areas of Europe with international events that serve the local and global industry, optimize networking opportunities and bring the hottest topics into scope.
The event destinations include Vienna, Prague, Budapest, Riga and Ljubljana with special focus around emerging markets.

For more details about the calendar, agendas and locations, visit the Live Events/Conferences section on www.europeangaming.eu

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